Thursday, October 15, 2009

Laundry Shelby Style



I do not love laundry. Not my favorite chore at all. Especially matching socks. Yuck. I am baffled by how we can have so many 'onesies' without the twosie.


We have a large family so if I do not do at least one, preferably two, loads a day it becomes a huge task. I do not make/let my kids do their own laundry but they do have to help with it. The oldest help in keeping the loads moving and everyone is responsible to get the dirties into the laundry room. The older kids are great about moving the laundry along when they have something they want to wear that needs cleaning.

We have a large laundry room which is great for hiding/handling all the loads. A year or so ago we added some cabinets and a long counter to pile the clean laundry when it comes out so no more piling it on the couch for me. I also bought a rolling rack to hang things on right away out of the dryer to save on ironing. Love both those items! It also is a good thing when I do the ironing in front of the TV with a movie going. It is an instant place to hang up the clothes. I usually watch 'You've got mail' because I have seen it so many times I just listen to it while I iron and I don't miss anything.



I have tried all kinds of laundry detergent from homemade to store brand to name brand. I don't care for the homemade long term because I don't think it gets my clothes bright enough. But on those tight budget months it works great. My preference is Tide soap, Clorox 2 and Downy. But with our tighter budget it is Costco brand soap, Clorox 2 in the white load only, and Costco brand dryer sheets.

That's how we do it here at the Shelby House. Join Genny at My Cup 2 Yours for Talk'n About Thursdays with a new topic to Talk About every week!

8 comments:

Jeanine said...

The new Purex laundry sheets (detergent/anti-static/softener) are FABULOUS! However, they only come in packages of 24 so you might use that up in a week! But it saves on having to buy detergent and fabric softener...and I LOVE THEM! I do not however, use them alone for my whites. I still use detergent on top of the sheet and then use the "Whitest Whites" cycle on my washer. Anyway...at about $5.24 per package (at least around here at Target or Walmart) they work great!

Genny said...

That rolling rack is a great idea, Jill! I loved this post and am so glad you joined in.

I love that your laundry room is great for hiding AND handling the laundry! :)

Jamie said...

I would love to add some cabinets and a bit of counter space to my laundry room.

The whole sock thing...the onesies always have me baffled too.

Great post, Jill!

Jen Westpfahl said...

Have you ever tried going without dryer sheets? I haven't used any in about three years and don't notice the difference. If you can't quit cold turkey, try cutting them in half and using a half sheet per load for a while. Every little bit helps the budget :)

Brooke said...

"daisies are such happy flowers" :)

i tried making my own fabric softener - it ended up being just as expensive and didn't work well!

Wendi said...

I think I will hire a maid to come do my laundry. Is that so bad??

Maid Wendi


LOL

Mel said...

5th grade is training grounds for laundry at our house with the middle school take over of their own. I too love Tide and Downy! Our two independent launderers each get a weekend day to do theirs and put it away. I fit the other four of us in during the week. Usually there is some fussing and overstuffing on the weekends...and then the never put away piles until Mom fusses :O)

Jamie said...

Jill...where are you? I am missing your blog posts! Please blog soon.